Robert John Unstead (21 November 1915 – 5 May 1988) was a British historian and prolific author of history books, most of which were written for young readers. Unstead went to Dover Grammar School for Boys in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, from 1926 to 1934 where he was a prefect and house captain, captain of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, vice-captain of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and in the school

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team. He gained Advanced Level passes in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, English,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and French. He left school to go to

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

where he trained to be a teacher. His teaching career, begun in 1936, was interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when he volunteered for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and became a physical training instructor. Later he became an operations room controller and joined Combined Operations for the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

landings before service in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, Italy and France. After the war, Unstead resumed his teaching career and later became headmaster of The Grange Primary School, Letchworth Garden City,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. He began to develop ideas for writing history books with pictures that would appeal to the young. He wrote and edited over 40 books, some of which sold in their millions. He visited Australia and collaborated on five books on Australian history. Whilst in the United States, Unstead was invited to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

following his ''Story of Britain'' being chosen by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as one of the 'best books of the year'. He was married to Florence and they had three daughters together. He was chairman of local school governors and had interests in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

and

. He died at Ipswich Hospital from heart failure on 5 May 1988 Batho, GR (2004). �
Unstead, Robert John (1915–1988)
, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press and his funeral service was held on 11 May in the Parish Church of St Andrew,

Aldringham Aldringham is a village in the Blything Hundred of Suffolk, England. The village is located 1 mile (1½ km) south of Leiston and 3 miles (4½ km) northwest of Aldeburgh close to the North Sea coast. The parish includes the coastal village of Th ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Bibliography

* * * ; illustrated by

Stanley Herbert Stanley Herbert (27 June 1905 – 1 January 1967) was a British commercial artist active in the 1930s to 1960s. Among his clients were ''The Radio Times'', for which he painted covers, and London Transport and Imperial Airways, for both of wh ...

* ; illustrated by Stanley Herbert * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Obituary in The Old Pharosians' Newsletter * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unstead, RJ 1915 births People educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys 1988 deaths Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London 20th-century British historians